Something Rotten in the State of Iowa

(With apologies to William Shakespeare.)

Yes, there is something rotten in the state of Iowa. It's me!!!!

Today I received a box from Washington state. This is what I found when I opened it up:





This was graciously and generously put together for me by my spoiler in the Reducio Sock Swap #4 from Ravelry. Since I was/am a member of Gryffindor house, my mini sock is done in Gryffindor's house colors.



The fun new element in this round was the addition of something related to the care of magical creatures. Thus my newest friend, Ryuu:



Ryuu is a unique little dragon (only 3 have been found!) He doesn't breathe fire. Instead, Ryuu is a guardian of all things fiber related! Isn't he just the cutest?

Of course, all things in Hogwarts swapping are delivered by owl. This is the one that delivered all my goodies safe and sound:



With a little help from:



And, I also received delicious Starbucks chocolate and my very first handmade stitch markers (I can't TELL you how cool I think they are! I'm going to be showing ALL this off to all my knitting friends next Wednesday at sit-n-knit!)




I have to say a hundred "THANK YOU'S" to Dawn in Washington for the wonderful swap gifts!!

Some of the Best Things

Sometimes some of the best things in life are the things we've forgotten.

I've seen this phenomenon with my own kids. When they were younger and we would have "clean your room" day they would often discover toys that they'd lost under the bed or behind the dresser or other places. These toys had been out-of sight-out-of-mind long enough that rediscovering them brought the kids much joy. (Not to mention distractions large enough to turn a 2 hour job into an all day kind of project, but let's not go there.)

Guess what I forgot about?



Ravelry!

I got my name in the queue last July and completely forgot about it until I received my invitation to join today. *yeah!* With waves of joy I am venturing into another fiber zone. I've only just dipped my toes in thus far, but it looks like a great place and I'm certain that I'll be diving in deep one of these days and there will be no getting me out of the water!

Happy Knitting & Spinning!